The SHP Legal and Cultural Arena was kick started on Tuesday morning (17 June) by Kevin Bridges, solicitor at Pinsent Masons, with an engaging talk on how to handle regulators.
Bridges began by dealing with the relationship safety and health practitioners have with inspectors and encouraging practitioners not to confuse this with why the inspector is visiting.
“Just because you have a good relationship with the inspector, it shouldn’t affect the different interactions you have,” warned Bridges.
He went on to make it clear that professionals should be aware of the powers and rights that both they and the inspectors have.
While most of the powers are derived from legislation, Bridges outlined the inspector’s rights: “Individuals are entitled to have somebody sit in on an interview with an HSE inspector,” Bridges explained. “The HSE don’t have the power to insist on one-to-one interviews. They have the power to interview, but haven’t got a right to do it on one-to-one basis.”
He went on to explain that inspectors don’t have the power to take original documents, only to inspect them and take copies. They also don’t have the right to inspect documents that would otherwise be confidential or privileged.
“Understand the nature of the limits of inspector’s powers and be prepared to challenge those powers if you think they are being abused or exceeded,” said Bridges.
He went on to communicate the legal duties professionals have when dealing with inspectors: “You have a duty to cooperate with the HSE, to provide information, to provide documents for inspection, you have a duty not to obstruct the inspector in the course of their duties, not to make false statements. Not to falsify documents and records.”
The potential pitfalls include forgetting the nature of the visit and confusing the relationship you have with the inspector; withholding and fabricating evidence, even if there is no malice or intention to mislead.
Bridges concluded his seminar by instructing professional on how to manage inspectors.
“Know and enforce your rights,” he said. “Understand the nature of the visit and adapt accordingly.”
Practitioners should also be prepared before the meeting, brief individuals, make sure documents are in place and gather intelligence.
During the inspection, check the authority and scope of the inspector and shadow them, taking copies of documents they take and taking notes of meetings.
Following the inspection, debrief internally or, if appropriate, with the regulator and follow up on any unanswered questions and missing documents. The intention of this debrief is to find outwhat the nature of the inspector’s visit was and if an investigation or enforcement action will be taken.
Bridges’ key message throughout was to take control as much as you can. “You have to take control,” said Bridges, “Otherwise the inspector will.”
Above all, said Bridges, if there is a breach or an act of non-compliance, remedy this. Put things right that have gone wrong.
“Put in place incident response protocol, brief staff, stress test and practice managing dawn raves,” said Bridges.
Kevin imparted three key takeaways from his talk at the SHP Legal and Cultural Arena: preparation, planning and taking control. With these three solidly in place, practitioners should feel more confident about handling regulators and dealing with the potential consequences.
